HARARE – Government has deployed officials to investigate claims some school authorities in Harare were turning away pupils for non-payment of fees in violation of its directives against the controversial action.
Primary and Secondary Education deputy minister Edgar Moyo told backbenchers in parliament Wednesday that disciplinary action was being instituted against errant school authorities.
He was responding to MPs in parliament during the ministers’ question time.
Zimbabwean schools opened Tuesday for the second term amid claims some authorities in Harare schools were turning away pupils over unpaid fees.
“Schools are not allowed to send away students. The contract of school fees payment is between the school and the parents and not the students,” Moyo said.
“Where schools are sending away children who have not paid fees, there are penalties.
“The penalty is a charge that is attracted by that action.
“As I speak, yesterday (Tuesday) we got information that some schools here in Harare sent away children who had not paid fees and this morning our officers were in those schools where we expect charges to be preferred against the culprits.”
He added, “If those cases are reported to us, we take corrective measures.
“Like I have already indicated, I may not name the schools in Harare where we sent officers this morning to go and interview the children, interview the teachers, the heads, with a view of preferring charges on those headmasters.”
Moyo said government was preferring charges against defiant heads.
“When I say charges, I am referring to disciplinary processes where we prefer a charge and say in terms of this section, you have committed an act of misconduct,” he said.
The top government official also said measures were being taken against schools that were rejecting payment in local currency.
“In areas where school heads are refusing to accept the Zimbabwe dollar and they only prefer the US dollar, that is illegal.
“I will repeat again, if that happens, let the parents get in contact with the district schools inspectors so that corrective measures are taken.
“What I did not say earlier when I spoke about teams that were sent into schools; that is part of the issues that they were going there to investigate.
“We are already talking to the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe on measures to be taken to correct those things.
“I may not speak about them here because they are still under discussion but we are very much alive to that situation.
“We wonder what the interest is in heads who do not want to accept the Zimbabwe dollar as legal tender in their schools when the laws of the land are very clear. We want to take this opportunity to warn them to say that there must not be a reason for stern measures against schools.
“They have to comply – the issues of compliance were discussed here and we have to find ways of strengthening our statutes to ensure total compliance by our officers on the ground.
“That is not allowed not, to accept any legal tender in the country.”
Schools are allowed to peg their fees in US dollars but if a parent wants to pay in local currency, they use the prevailing interbank rate on the date of payment.
However, schools feel hard done by government’s stiff stance on currency preferences amid spiraling prices of commodities pegged in Zimbabwe’s volatile unit.
